Adding: A new stock item

When you enter a new stock item the system will ask you a number of questions to determine the value of the fields, described above, for your new stock. Because some practices will require different details to be held on stock record cards, the questions you are asked (and consequently the type of information you store) are configurable (<P>arameters.<Q>uestions). We'll cover the customisation of these questions in more detail later.

In the same way that management record cards can be marked for deletion, stock record cards can be 'Killed'. When you enter new stock, the program will automatically re-use stock cards for items that have been 'Killed'.

Premvet 5 also provides you with on-the-spot help if you can't remember the product code, supplier ref. or manufacturer code when you are entering (or editing) stock. When you are prompted for these fields you can either:

1. Enter the number (if known)
2. Enter the first part of the description
3. Enter a space

TIP: Whenever you don't answer these questions, Premvet 5 sets them to the default value, which is code 1. Therefore it's a good idea to set up your main supplier/product description with code 1, so you can skip these questions wherever possible and save time.

Normally all prices within the stock system are Ex VAT, if you do want to enter a VAT inclusive price prefix it with a '/' (same as in Automatic Pricing) and the system will calculate the correct figure.

Quantities

Most of the figures held on the record card relate to the lowest dispensed unit used e.g. tablets - per tablet, liquids - per ml etc.

The system calculates order quantities, unit costs, mark-ups etc. by using the 'Pack cont.' (Pack contents) field: e.g. a 1 litre bottle of Benylin which you decant and sell in smaller quantities would have a 'pack cont' of 1000 allowing the system to handle quantities as low as 1ml. If the item concerned is only ever purchased and sold in 1's then the 'pack cont' would be 1 (which is the default). See the later section on sub-units for details.

TIP: When you are entering quantity, minimum or maximum, Premvet 5 needs the figures to be units of the lowest dispensed quantity. If you only know the number of packs, enter the pack quantity preceded by a slash (/) and the system will calculate the required figure.

Note: Some of the stock screens display average figures. These figures are averaged over your financial year so make sure the start month is set correctly. The start of your year is determined by the switch setting:

 General -> Parameters -> Misc -> 10 (Nominal start month)

Barcodes

If you're using a bar code scanner to speed up the entry of counter sales, you'll need to enter the bar code for the product concerned. Don't type the code in, scan it using the scanner. If you are using the 2-D labels from Centaur you should set the barcode tot he same as the supplier code - or - when at the 'Description' prompt, scan the label and the Description, Supplier and barcode details will be updated automatically.

The barcode will be displayed on the stock record card, to the right of the supplier code.

Quick Price Lookup

There is a Stand Alone utility called pvprice which can be run from within a Function Key or the O.S. prompt line. This utilitity will check both Stock and AP codes and list on the screen the VAT Inc/Ex prices and the quantity in stock. This can be used to quickly check the prices of items.